Author's Guidance:

Name: Abel Ackearose “Vayr”Sex: MaleAge: 42Height: 6’5”Weight: 275Build: Large and muscular. Features: Imposing presence. Silver eyes, hair, and skin, due to exposure to an unidentified chemical. Right arm is mechanical, but made to look like a normal arm.Personality: Gruff and often blunt to people around him, he has little in the way of humor. He is a drunk and often quick to fight, but never fights those he doesn’t believe to be a challenge, even when drunk. On rare occasions, he is known to smile, but those are far and few between. On missions, he tends to play it safe until he thinks he has a good chance, then go all out. Skills: He has excessive strength due to his mechanized limb and large physique. He is a decent marksman and an extremely skilled hand-to-hand fighter, but most of all, he is quick to form a strategy. A sharp wit and quick thinking save him more often than naught. The only issue is that any plans tend to make him get into a fist fight with someone. History: He was a soldier who was discharged for his violent nature and then experimented on. They gave him his arm and put him through training and bioengineered his muscles to grow faster. Eventually, he couldn’t take the pain and ran, falling into a vat of chemicals in his escape. The chemicals dyed him silver, but otherwise did nothing to his genetic makeup. After escaping, he founded a group of bounty hunters and left to chase marks to put food on his table. Gear: Rail Rifle and steel padded gloves.

Name: ‘Alaudin’ Maik Alaudin Xarr. Lord of Tongkil, Lord of Atva Atva and Lord of Basilal. Maik over all Suluk. Profession: Deposed ruler. (Prisoner.) Species: Suluk. Sex: Male. Age: 40 Height: 5’11” Weight: 170 Build: Humanoid. Wiry, fit. Features: Though injured/disfigured from beatings so he won’t be recognised immediately. His skin is moist, wrinkled and dark grey/blue with patches of beige/pale yellow. Notably a triangular shaped patch partly covers his forehead and right eye. His front facing eyes are completely black. His massive brows stick out far, he has no ears and his nose appears sunken. He has an elongated and ridged chin, and no lips which shows his hundreds of sharp, fine interlocking teeth. Personality: Despite his situation, and Kalimantan’s attempts to shut him up, Alaudin tries to make himself invaluable. Apparently he knows as much about engineering and navigation as anything else. And when it comes to the ship they’re all stranded on, he is a font of knowledge. He is funny, wise and worldly, he’s intelligent and speaks multiple languages, one might say he’s even genius. Soft-spoken. Helpful. Generous. He SEEMS like a compassionate, decent person who should never have been arrested.Name: Kalimantan ‘Kal’ Profession: Pirate/bounty hunter. Captain of the notorious Makassar. Species: Samarind. Sex: Male. Age: 35 Height: 6’7” Weight: 350 Build: Humanoid. Massive, tall, muscular. Features: Long snout full of razor sharp teeth. Grey-brown scaly skin. Human-level eyesight, but better hearing, and a phenomenal sense of smell. Kalimantan alone has lots of facial scars. Personality: Loud, rowdy, dimwitted. Question authority, but aren’t born leaders. Kalimantan however is gruff, but can be sensitive. Fiercely loyal and honourable. He’s more intelligent than his crew, and than he himself lets on. And he can sense danger. History: Former slave. Gear: Black armour/space suit resembling a beetle’s exoskeleton. They wield sonic blunderbusses that mostly inflict internal injuries.

Name: Marore. (Villain/femme fatale) Profession: Undefined. Species: Unknown. An ancient. Sex: Female. Age: Immortal. Thousands of years old. Height: 5’ Weight: 50 Build: Humanoid. Small, curvy. Features: Like a silhouette with a long black cloak draped over her which drags along the ground. The cloak is actually a massive set of wings with long black feathers which can wrap around her and shield her. Her arms are separate from her wings, though like her feet, her hands are talons. Her face and chest are exposed and the skin light red in hue. Her eyes are blue, but around them are painted black. Atop her head are a set of massive, elaborate antlers. Skills: Seductive, coercive, and some telepathic abilities. History: Something between her and Vayr, making her conflicted about leaving him for dead.

Name: Jasper CandorSex: MaleAge: 24, maybe a bit older.Appearance: Human, with pale skin and dark hair. He's got dark brown eyes, and stands about, 5' 11". A scar over the bridge of his nose, as well as several on his knuckles, show him to be a fighter, and not afraid to get his hands dirty.

Background: He mostly deals in scrap, and treasure hunting, but depending on the monetary situation, will resort to the "search and rescue" of live targets. Born and raised aboard a mining freighter, Jasper ran off in an escape pod and stole, scammed and smuggled until he had a tidy business and his own ship: the Husk. He called it that because it is a beat-up thing with a massive cargo hold, and almost no living space.

He shares this ship with his cat: RIAD. (Rodent Identifier and Disembowler). RIAD is an artificial intelligence in a metallic cat's body, and is more than communicative enough for his master. RIAD's tail and paws contain plenty of tools for the repair and maintenance of a ship, but also has a cat's temperament, and appetite for small creatures.

Name: Caroline Hague “Carrion”Sex: FemaleAge: 35Height: 5’5”Weight: 110 lbs (or whatever sounds reasonable)Build: Compact and unremarkable.Features: Dark skin and hair, green eyes. Lower jaw, tongue and part of throat are artificial, and obviously so. She wears a scarf or similar over this in civilisation, but doesn’t bother in space. Personality: Economical with words, but not quiet by any means. Can be charming when the need arises, but mostly just talks herself into and out of situations. Habitual liar.Skills: Her experience as a scavenger means that she picks up on details others might not see, and is a good judge of value. Not as good a judge of character as she believes. Looks for patterns in what people say, and where those patterns break, to work out when they’re lying or hiding something, or trying to trick her. Can pick locks like nobodies business. Alright at social stealth, but not very good at hiding due to her obvious mechanical jaw.History: Became a scavenger to get a bit of extra cash, but turned to it full time after an encounter with a grenade while scavenging a warzone almost blew off her jaw. She takes the higher paying but risky work to fund the maintenance needed for her prosthetics. (haven’t worked out more yet – brain is on strike)Gear: Laser pistol and a combat knife.

The Final Bounty

Vayr, the Silver Brute

Four bounty hunters are left stranded after their mutual enemy lures them into a trap. Their ships lost and allies dead, they must work together to survive and exact their revenge.

Vayr growled at the bleeding man before him. Kelad Jur was a wiry man with legs made for running. And running he had done. It had taken two days to finally catch the little runt. If he wasn't worth nearly fifty thousand units, Vayr would have not even bothered. "They better take him like this..." Greymane muttered as he grabbed their mark to hold him down. "You bastards!" Kelad squirmed fiercely even without his legs. Almost admirable, had he not been pathetic to begin with. "How could you do this to me! I didn't know she was the matriarch's daughter, I swear! Please, just-" He began to scream as Hammer started applying the plasma coagulant. "Don't bother speaking to the captain," Greymane told the man he held. Kelad still screamed, though, so Greymane grabbed his mouth to silence him. "You're done for, my friend. Somebody find his legs!"Wartooth and Dog left to follow the orders. Vary just watched them go, thinking on how long this paycheck would last them. Food, alcohol, oxygen, ammo... The list went on. Hell, just catching this bastard cost them two batteries for the plasma rifle Dog carried. Recharging those was expensive. But...Dog and Wartooth returned with the legs and wide grins on their faces. Vayr smiled, too, as soon as he saw the vaulting boots on Kelad's feet. Those would fetch a nice sum of units on the black market. Nearly as much as the bounty for Kelad. Vayr nodded to the men to let them know they had done well and started to head back to the Cerberus. It was time to find the next job.

~~~~~~

The Cerberus was an old, outdated flagship, refitted with aftermarket engines and weapons. Though it could not hold it's own in a dogfight, but it could chase down damn near anything. Add in the full size rail-cannon it had and you had the perfect ship for chasing bounties.It had been nearly a decade since Vayr had started bounty hunting. A decade of fighting to eat. In all that time, he had realized the thrill of chasing a challenging target. Having to use every ounce of his brain to outsmart the mark and trap him. Having to capture them alive only added to the enjoyment. Yet, it seemed these last few years had produced no bounties worthy of his personal attention. Kelad had been a job of necessity. Vayr had let Greymane and Wartooth lead it, even. Well, until he realized the bastard was good at running. Vaulting boots, though? For some peasant who had an affair with the magistrate of Jordan's daughter, he was using something nice. Still, it didn't make it a fun fight. It wasn't a clever escape, just some idiot with tech running away. "Captain, we got the Magistrate on the screen."Vayr nodded to Wartooth and walked into Cerberus. They had docked on a cliff as to avoid paying the fair. Nice weather, though. The main room of the Cerberus was full of men stripping themselves of their gear. The stench of sweat and booze was thick, with some traces of the plasma coagulant they had used on Kelad. The mark was in the corner with his legs, whimpering. Vayr ignored them all and continued to follow Wartooth to the cockpit. On the screen was a woman with a shaved head. "Magistrate.""Captain Ack-""Vayr."The magistrate frowned. She had obviously not been pleased about being interrupted. But Vayr was from off the planet, so he knew he was free from her wrath. "Yes, Vayr..." She leaned back a little. "Your... compatriot tells me you caught the scoundrel, yes?""We did.""Very good work, Captain," she said blandly. Ungrateful bitch. "Now, he should have some CR-133 Vaulting Boots on his person. I will need those returned, Captain AckearoseVayr sat down in his chair and leaned back, looking the magistrate dead in the eye. What was her real name again...? Serash? No. Oh, wait, that's right. "He had no tech, Seerish."The woman's eyes went cold. Calling any member of the government here by their first name was akin to saying you were equal to or better than them. It was actually amusing to see the woman squirm. To her credit, she stayed calm."Well, then I can only pay you half the bounty, I'm afraid.""Full payment, or I let him loose.""That technology was half the reason I wanted him captured. You only got him, so-""Full, or I let him loose." Vayr stood up, reminding the magistrate of his immense size. Not even Wartooth matched Vayr in that regard. "The bounty was for Kelad Jur, alive. You said nothing of any tech."The magistrate stared at Vayr for the longest time, her green eyes locking onto his silver ones. "I'll have the units transferred as soon as we have Kelad."The screen went black.Wartooth laughed. "Nice, Captain," he said, sitting in one of the three chairs in the cockpit. "That bitch will never know what happened to them."Vayr nodded. "I'll keep them on me until we get to the fourth-"The screen lit up with a call. Wartooth pressed a few keys on his monitor and shook his head. "Their hiding their contact point and ID. No way of hacking without waking up Jumper."Vayr shook his head. "Put it through."The screen brought forth the image of a woman in a nice suit. She had no distinguishing features, though. An accountant or something? The hell was some company contacting the Hellhounds for? The woman looked to Wartooth, then to Vayr, where she lingered. Obviously his silver skin and hair and... well, everything, had her curious. "Captain Vayr, also called the Silver Brute, I presume?"Vayr looked at the woman. "What gave me away?"She ignored his jab at a joke and continued. "I have a job for you from-""How much does it pay?"The woman gave him an odd look. "I'll go over that after giving you the details. Please wait until-""Depending on the pay, I won't even need to know the details, woman," Vayr sneered. He was tired and this bitch was trying to order him around. He hadn't even got any booze yet. So, Vayr lifted his right arm, showing off the metal limb. "Cybernetic maintenance ain't free. Tell me the pay.""... Very well. The pay will be three million units."Vayr smiled for the first time in a long while. "Now I'll hear the details."